Posts Tagged ‘windows 7’
Speed up Windows 7
Posted by kglee | Filed under Software Fixes
Microsoft Windows 7
is already a much more responsive operating system than its predecessors, but there are tweaks and changes you can make to speed up Windows 7 even more. By reading this list and implementing some of the suggestions, you can increase performance in a very short period of time. If you have any further suggestions on how to improve the speed of a Windows 7 PC, please let us know in the comments section so that we can keep updating this list.
1. Boost your RAM
Windows 7 is very efficient at using your memory and adding another stick of RAM can give a big performance boost at very little cost. 4GB is plenty for most 64-bit users, and 3GB is a sensible limit for 32-bit users (mainly due to the memory limitations which you can read about here).
If you do more intensive work such as CAD or video editing then added even more than 4GB RAM may be a sensible idea. However it should be noted that simply adding lots of extra memory will not continue to improve overall performance, the bottleneck depends on other components (such as your CPU and hard drive).
2. Switch to SSD
Using a Solid State Drive is going to provide a performance boost in almost all Windows 7 applications, especially when it comes to boot times. SSD’s have no moving parts and therefore are silent and more energy efficient, with the benefit of much faster access times.
The current generation of mechanical hard drives will be obsolete in the coming years, but for the time being SSDs are quite expensive. If you have the money and a high end system to improve upon, this would be an excellent choice.
How to Enable God Mode on Vista and Windows 7
Posted by kglee | Filed under Software Fixes
Windows 7 interface and desktop is rather clean and minimalist. Of course, you can find everything you need in the famous and well-known Control Panel. However this solution won’t allow you to see and easily use all those nested settings included in the main options. Did you know that you can become a God? Well, at least on Windows 7!
One of the less known options on Windows 7 is the God Mode feature. Basically, it lets you have every setting and option right in front of you, ready to be used without having to browse among different settings before getting what you are looking for. Here is how to enable it:
1. Right click on any bank space on your desktop.
2. Click new from the menu and create a New Folder.
3. Rename the folder as follow: GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}
4. DO NOT use this trick on Vista 64X. It will cause your Windows to crash! (read comments below)
This simple command will create a special shortcut to the God Mode option letting you access all Windows 7 functions via a handy GUI!
EDIT: GodMode also works on Windows Vista!
[credit: stadt-bremerhaven.de]
Hack to make a Windows 7 Universal CD
Posted by kglee | Filed under Software Fixes
Windows 7 desktop
Ei.cfg Removal Utility (Windows 7 Universal CD) – Repair Tool of the Week
Lets You Use Any Product Key With Your Windows 7 Disc
Windows: Windows 7 install discs are edition-specific—if you’ve got a valid license key, you still need the right disc for installation. The ei.cfg Removal Utility, however, lets you create a new, universal installation ISO for Windows 7.
One of the biggest frustrations when installing Windows XP was making sure you had the correct CD for your license key. Windows Vista fixed this problem by having a universal CD that contained all versions (all 32bit versions or all 64bit versions, not both) and simply installed the version that the key matched.
Now that Windows 7 is out, Microsoft have reverted back to needing a separate disk for each version which is annoying for us computer technicians. However, the only difference between each DVD is a small 51 byte configuration file called ei.cfg which tells the installer what version disc it is. If you were to turn your DVD into an ISO, remove this ei.cfg file and write it back to a DVD, that DVD would become a Universal DVD.
ei.cfg Removal Utility will make this easy for you. Just create an ISO with your legitimate Windows 7 DVD, run this tool, choose the ISO and let it run. Once it has finished, just write the ISO back to a DVD again and you would only need to carry one 32bit version and one 64bit version to support any Windows 7 install onsite.
Of course, your client would still need to provide you with a working key for the Windows 7 install to work.
Source www.technibble.com
Windows 7 Password Recovery
Posted by kglee | Filed under Software Fixes
winpass, choose Win 7 folder, unlock account, clear password
winpass -u username
http://mirror.tuxinator.org/trinityhome/trinity-rescue-kit.3.3-build-318.iso
I use chntpw a lot and using the hex id (RID) instead of the user name generally saves a lot of head aches.
Type “winpass -l” to to get a list of users then type “winpass -u 0x” replacing with a user’s hex value.
Something like this:
[root@trk]:(~)# winpass -l
…
0e3d | user name | ADMINISTRATOR
…
[root@trk]:(~)# winpass -u 0×0e3d
Hope this helps.
Workaround to Install Windows XP Mode in Windows 7 Home Premium and Home Basic
Posted by kglee | Filed under Software Fixes
Windows XP Mode (XPM) is a pre-installed and pre-activated licensed copy Windows XP SP3 as guest OS virtual machine package for Windows Virtual PC. Microsoft provides Windows XP Mode as a mean to provide backward compatibility for legacy productivity software. In Windows XP Mode, a pre-installed RemoteApp integration components allow guest applications running within the virtualized environment to be integrated into host Windows 7 desktop, and appear as if running directly on the host, sharing the native desktop and Start Menu of Windows 7 as well as participating in file type associations.
Unfortunately, Windows XP Mode is only available free of charge to users of Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate editions, as it’s widely considered as buy one free one deal, with a free licensed copy of Windows XP comes with Windows 7. However, Microsoft does provide Windows Virtual PC for every editions of Windows 7 except Windows 7 Starter edition.
Good news is that, according to MDL forum thread, in order to ensure that Windows XP Mode can be run properly without activation worry, Microsoft has embedded the necessary OEM:SLP (System Locked Pre-activation) string in the Windows Virtual PC’s BIOS so that offline OEM activation automatically activate Windows XP Mode. Thus, with the necessary OEM:SLP product key and OEMBIOS files, Windows 7 Home Basic and Windows 7 Home Premium users can manually install Windows XP on Windows Virtual PC guest virtual machine, and perform the steps in the hack below to create a Windows XP Mode with full integration features and functionality.
Tip: The guide can also be used any any editions of Windows 7 to create and install multiple or more than one activated Windows XP as Windows XP Mode with full integration features including seamless application publishing to host.
Hack to Manually Create and Install Windows XP Mode in Windows 7
1. Ensure that the computer is capable of running Windows Virtual PC, as Windows Virtual PC (and hence Windows XP Mode) required hardware-assisted virtualization. Microsoft also provides Hardware-Assisted Virtualization (HAV) Tool as free download to check the CPU capability.
Tip: Hardware-assisted virtualization is supported on most CPU processors, but may have disabled or locked in BIOS. In this case, reboot into BIOS to change the setting.
2. Download and install Windows Virtual PC.
Note: It’s impossible to download Windows Virtual PC and Windows XP Mode from Microsoft Virtual PC homepage if user selects the operating system as 32-bit or 64-bit Windows 7 Starter, Windows 7 Home Basic or Windows 7 Home Premium.
3. After installing Windows Virtual PC, browse to Windows Virtual PC folder by clicking on Start menu -> All Programs -> Windows Virtual PC -> Windows Virtual PC.
DNS Settings – How Do You Change Them Under Windows 7, Windows Vista and Windows XP?
Posted by kglee | Filed under Software Fixes
We all know by now how tweaking our operating systems (I’m lumping in Linux into this catagory) can help speed up our systems. We also know applying various networking tweaks to our operating systems can also speed up our web browsing experience but, outside of our OS’s we really have no control over anything outside of our routers. Or do we? Is there a way to make web browsing faster without having to dig into the Windows Registry? Can you speed up a Linux system by changing just a couple of DNS settings? Yep, you sure can!
What Exactly Is DNS
The “official” definition (via Wikipedia) – “It associates various information with domain names assigned to each of the participants. Most importantly, it translates domain names meaningful to humans into the numerical (binary) identifiers associated with networking equipment for the purpose of locating and addressing these devices worldwide. An often used analogy to explain the Domain Name System is that it serves as the “phone book” for the Internet by translating human-friendly computer hostnames into IP addresses.”
http://forums.winxpcentral.com/showthread.php?p=55324#post55324
Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool
Posted by kglee | Filed under Software Fixes
Windows 7 USB Download Tool Lets You Install Windows from a Thumb Drive
If you’re trying to install Windows 7 on a netbook (or are having issues with your PC’s optical drive), the free USB Download Tool from Microsoft allows you to take a .ISO image and turn it into a bootable flash drive.
This was created not only for netbook users, but for anyone that opted to download Windows 7 from Microsoft in lieu of ordering an installation DVD. Windows 7 USB Download Tool can create a bootable flash drive (or DVD, if you prefer) from the downloaded .ISO file in quick fashion—just install it and follow the on-screen prompts. Note that if you opt to use a flash drive, it must be 4GB or larger to hold all the files.
The coolest part: Microsoft has open sourced this little app. Why, you ask? They got a bit of flak early on in the project for re-using open-source code and improperly documenting it (as well as making the program itself closed source), but true to their word that it was only a mistake, it’s been brought back and declared open source for all to use. So if you still haven’t gotten Windows 7 installed on that netbook of yours, head on over to CodePlex, Microsoft’s open-source repository, and download the tool now.
There was a bit of a furore over Microsoft’s ‘Windows 7 Netbook Installation tool’ back in November because they broke the cardinal rule this decade of software development: they used open-source code and didn’t declare it. Even worse, they modified open-source code and locked it up in proprietary, closed-source software. FOR SHAME!
But it’s OK: it was just a mistake, an honest mistake. They didn’t mean to include the open-source code fragments. So they pulled the software from their site and said it would be back in a little while, properly documented, and open-sourced. Well, it’s been a month and it’s finally back! It’s also now hosted on CodePlex, Microsoft’s open-source repository — cool.
If you weren’t aware such a tool existed, it creates bootable USB sticks from .ISO (CD or DVD) images, ideal for installing Windows 7 on a netbook or any other device without an optical drive. If you need more info – perhaps if you want to rejuvenate a tired old netbook for a grandparent this Christmas
Undocumented Method for a Clean Install of Windows 7 with Upgrade Media
Posted by kglee | Filed under Software Fixes
To perform a clean install of Windows 7 with Upgrade media, you need to install
Windows 7 once using the Upgrade Setup disk, but without entering your product
key during Setup. Then, once you’ve loaded the Windows 7 desktop for the
first time, you can run Setup again from within Windows 7 and choose Upgrade
(even though you’ll be “upgrading” to the exact same version of Windows 7).
Allow Setup to complete a second time, and then you’re good to go: you can
enter your product key after the second Setup routine is completed and activate
Windows 7 successfully.
Here are the complete instructions:
Step 1: Install Windows 7
Boot your PC with the Windows 7 Upgrade DVD. After the preliminary loading
screen, install Windows 7 normally. When you are prompted to enter your product
key, leave the product key field blank, deselect the option titled “Automatically
activate Windows when I’m online,” and then continue.
Setup will install Windows Once Windows 7 is successfully installed and you are logged on, you’ll be presented with your new Windows 7 desktop. Don’t get too comfortable, however, as you’re
about to do it all again.
Step 2: Upgrade from Windows 7…to Windows 7
If you try to activate Windows now, it will fail because you’ve performed a clean
install of Windows 7 and you have only an Upgrade product key. That means you
have 30 days during which you can run this non-activated version of Windows 7.
But why wait 30 days?
According to Microsoft, Upgrade versions of Windows 7 support upgrading
from “a compliant version of Windows, such as Windows 7, Windows Vista, or
Windows XP.” Well, you just installed Windows 7, so why not just upgrade from
that install? That’s right: you’re going to upgrade the non-activated clean install
you just performed, which will provide you with a version of the OS that you
can, in fact, activate. (more…)